The University of Iowa’s lone male NCAA qualifier in what was the program’s final season, Will Myhre has chosen the University of Wisconsin as his new program for his remaining two years of remaining eligibility. He could also elect to use the waiver granted to athletes due to the pandemic, giving him an additional year of collegiate eligibility.
While he will be transferring within the Big-10 conference, Myhre will face no transfer penalty due to the cutting of Iowa’s program. Because of this, he will be eligible to compete for the Badgers immediately after arriving on campus this fall.
Myhre is a breaststroker, who was originally slated to swim both the 100 and 200 at the 2021 NCAA Championships, though a positive test for Covid-19 left him out of the meet. In the 100 breast, he was seeded 14th with his time of 51.70 that earned him 6th at the Big-10 Championships.
Best Times (SCY)
- 100 breast – 51.70
- 200 breast – 1:55.71
For a Badger program that didn’t have a breaststroker under 52.5, let alone 52.0, the addition of Myhre will be a huge pick-up for both individual events and relays. Last year the top 100 breaststroke time for Wisconsin came from freshman Andrew Benson, who won the B-final in the event at the Big-10 Championships in a time of 52.61. On the 200 medley relay he out split Myhre by .13, as the Iowa team beat out Wisconsin by .18.
While Myhre was off from his lifetime best in 2021, his best time in the 200 breast would have also ranked as Wisconsin’s top performer in the event. Last year the Badgers were led by Caleb Aman, who took 12th at the Big-10 Championships in 1:55.98. Myhre finished 15th in that race with a time of 1:56.33.
When Myhre originally committed to the University of Iowa in 2018, he was ranked as SwimSwam’s #20 recruit in his class.
Wisconsin is coached by Yuri Suguiyama, who in April received a three-year contract extension, locking him in as the head coach of the Badgers until 2024.
This is a really good pickup for Wisconsin especially for Benson/Fouts/Segal/Weigand to have a really fast training partner for exclusively breaststroke – which is something the Wisconsin men have struggled to find. I genuinely think the last super high caliber breaststroker to come through Wisconsin was Nick Schafer in 2015… so this is going to boost both their relays AND hopefully individual performances in breaststroke/IM to a place that they haven’t been in at least 6-7 years.
Too bad he’ll always be second to the macho man max mchugh
Can’t you just be happy for a kid finding a new home after his program was cut and making his new training group better than it has been in years?
Not to mention, I don’t think Gopher swim fans have much to be bragging about lately. Maybe wait to see how you do without Iowa and MSU cushioning the race to the bottom before taking shots at another B1G team, especially a program that has rocketed past yours the last few seasons.
Not convinced Weigand is joining the breaststroke group at UW….he’s a near-19-flat relay start as a high schooler…he’s not close to McHugh in breaststroke but has legit Big 10 sprint speed…
IMO he’s gonna swim 50, 1fr, 1br from what I’ve seen of him. Kind of a Benson type that’ll train with both groups.
Legit option for him….good 1-2 punch for Bucky….I still think his long-term free sprint potential is largely untapped…he’s had a solid progression through HS w/out a ton of club experience relative to his incoming peers
Decent choice, probably the big10 school most desperate for a breaststroker. Looking forward to seeing how the top Iowa people swim with an actual coaching staff, and with the backing of an Athletic’s Department.
Shame on Iowa, good luck Will.
That’s a huge pick up for the badgers!!! Congrats 😃